Q&A;: Alana Haim Is Totally Down to Marry Drake

And she will fight anyone who says women can't play music.

Haim is something of a rarity these days: a band composed mostly of women who play their own instruments, write their own songs, don't do choreographed dances or wear (many) sequins, and still get heard on the radio. Made up of sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim (all of whom are younger than 30), the band found mainstream success last year with the release of their debut album Days Are Gone, a delightful, summery record full of catchy arena rock crossed with '90s R&B.; They've toured with Florence + the Machine and Mumford & Sons, played Coachella and Glastonbury, and are currently on their own headlining tour across North America and Europe. Este's bass-face is its own meme, and Alana has twice won an NME Award for Best Band Blog or Twitter. Basically, they're amazing. Alana, the youngest Haim sister and the band's multi-instrumentalist (she plays keyboard, guitar, and percussion, and sings), recently chatted with Cosmopolitan.com about her obsession with Game of Thrones, her love for Drake, and why more women need to pick up guitars and start playing music.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

So tell me about this Drake iPhone case you tweeted a picture of earlier today. My cell phone case that I made? I found these crazy Drake stickers, so I just stuck them on my phone. Basically, it's the best thing that now I get to see Drake's face on my phone 24 hours a day.

You could probably sell those on Etsy. Someone would definitely buy them. I know. Little do people know that I found these weird-ass stickers for, like, a dollar. They can just make it themselves. I'm very crafty.

Are you a big Drake fan? I'm the biggest Drake fan of all time. I mean, we all are. We all constantly fight about who gets dibs on Drake. But I think Danielle, my middle sister, is the frontrunner. She's actually obsessed with him.

I'm not sure who broke up with whom. Supposedly he loved her too much. Oh my god. I had no idea. I'm not gonna lie, they probably would be the best couple ever. I want to marry Drake, but if anyone could steal my spot in Drake's heart, it would be Rihanna.

You're on tour right now and will be all summer. What do you and your sisters do to entertain yourselves on the bus between venues? On American buses, they have DirecTV, so now all we've been doing is just catching up on Bravo. I'm the biggest Real Housewives of Atlanta fan. Real Housewives of Atlanta, Real Housewives of New York, Real Housewives of Orange County — that's my shit. I could watch those all day, every day. And I've been watching Game of Thrones and Mad Men. I'm obsessed with [Game of Thrones]. I want to make my whole crew dress up as the cast for Halloween. I really want to be Khaleesi, but I don't have blonde hair, so I feel like Este would have to be Khaleesi. Maybe I'll be like, Cersei or something. Stay tuned. We have till October to figure this out.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Do you and your sisters ever fight when you're working together? We're human. We'll have our days. Everybody has their days, especially when you're in close quarters with someone, but growing up, we were all really close. We've never fought about music or work, or anything like that. It's always been like, "Why did you put this in that suitcase," or, "Did you forget my face wash at the hotel, or, "Where did my nail polish go?"

Do you hang out a lot when you're not on tour? Oh, yeah. Me and Este still live together; we live at home. We still haven't moved out of our parents' house because we're on tour constantly. And Danielle lives down the street from our house — I can walk there. We finally decided to have New Year's in different places [this year], and when we all came back from our New Year's trips, we were like, "We're never doing that ever again." I just couldn't handle it. I was so depressed that I was in a different place, and I was getting texts from both of my sisters like, "Why aren't we together?" We are too obsessed with each other. It's digusting. I just love my sisters so much.

There's only one guy in your band. Is he ever weirded out by all the estrogen on the bus? No, he's like our big brother. He's the best. Growing up, I always wanted an older brother, and he really fills that hole in my heart. He's super-protective of all of us. He's always there for us when we need advice and a dude's perspective. And I think we've given him a softer side. He's gotten this huge dose of feminism [from us]. He knows the difference between Dove deodorant and Secret deodorant. He likes it too. He's like, "Wow, I would have never known. I know all about girl shit now." I think we'll help him in the long run with his girlfriends. He knows copious amounts of information about a woman's lifestyle now.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Have you started working on a follow-up to Days Are Gone yet? We just kind of started writing on tour, not too intensely. We're just getting the creative juices flowing, but it's been fun. We've never written on the road before, and now we kind of have a little setup in the back of our bus, a little baby recording studio.

People constantly compare Haim to bands like Fleetwood Mac and TLC. Do you ever wish music critics would think up some new analogies? I think music comparisons are funny regardless. I think it's so weird that you can't just accept a band for being a band. You have to be like, "They sound like this or like this." I think we're more of a mix between like, the Wiggles and Barney. I have no idea. When I listen to our music, I don't hear Fleetwood Mac or TLC. I just hear us. But I think it's cool that that's what people associate us with. It's definitely never annoying.

You were all so young when you started Haim. Do you have any advice for other young women interested in starting a band? I think the big thing is just don't be scared, because there aren't enough women in music. Women shouldn't be scared to just fucking go for it. Yesterday we were in a venue and the bathroom only had a urinal, which basically means they probably don't get a lot of women playing at the venue, which is so archaic; it's so old-vibe. I was so surprised. I was like, "Cool, am I supposed to pee in a urinal?" I think women should grab their balls — because we all have balls — and strap on an instrument, play anything, and just go for it. Don't be scared. Because there's a group of us that will support you. There needs to be more of us that are ready to do it and take on the dudes, because we're just as good. More likely we're better. It just needs to happen. It shouldn't be a surprising thing to be a girl band.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Nicki Minaj said something recently about how she doesn't want to be called a "female" rapper anymore, just a rapper, because she feels like categorizing isn't necessary. Right, yeah. It's like when people are like, "Wow, a new girl band on the scene." Why the fuck are you calling us a girl band? We're a band. We shouldn't be a category. We should just be coexisting with other bands. It shouldn't be gendered. It's all music. It's not like when we play, hearts and flowers come out of our mouths. We're all doing the same thing. We should just all be together as one.

Have you and your sisters ever gotten nasty comments from people who thought you wouldn't sound good just because you're women? Oh, yeah, all the time. On our first tour, we toured with Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, and we were in a really small town. We had walked on stage, and in the front row a dude was like, "Oh, fuck, a girl band." I was like, "For real man? We just walked on stage, and you're already mad-dogging us? Just wait." By the end of the set, he was head-bopping and getting into it. But [the fact that] there's a bad connotation with women in music is just so weird, because we've always been in music. Does anyone remember Blondie? We've always been here. We're not going anywhere. It's just so weird to me. I honestly am so happy to take on any dude or any person who thinks women can't play music, because it's just fucking stupid. I will take you on, and I will change your vision.